Mega Man 9 Review

A legend on the NES, Mega Man has come along with with a whole lot of games over the years. Some gamers have gotten tired of the countless spinoffs and other things thrown in there, and because it’s been a good 12 years since the last entry in the main series, you probably know the excitment when the 9th entry in the series was announced (well, at least I hope you remember, it wasn’t that long ago). The whole point of this game is that it’s as if it was made 20 years ago, right along side the early entries in the series. Because of that, it will be reviewed as such.

Story

Dr. Light’s robots are going crazy all over the place! Dr. Wily claims he’s given up his evil ways and that Dr. Light has done a flip flop and is bent on world domination. A cheesy story told in a classic 8-bit cutscene when you first turn on the game, and just in line with what we got from the original games.

Gameplay

This is Mega Man at his core. There’s platforming and shooting, that’s it. The game is also harder than almost anything else you’ll be playing today, just like how things were back during those classic 8-bit days. The level design is also fantastic, there’s the simplicity of just being able to jump and shoot, but there are little things that are part of the level that you have to figure out. It’s just a classic design done right again, only a little different.

Visuals and Sound

The game looks identical to it’s NES counterparts, and that’s a good thing. Yes, it’s dated, and it’s dated by design, but I strongly believe that there shouldn’t be criticism of the graphics because this is 100% spot on what it’s supposed to look like. You can’t go and compare the visuals of a game that’s supposed to look 20 years old to other games today, downloadable or not. As far as the sounds, the music is brilliant. You have some fantastic new songs for each level that fit in right with the sounds of the time, and other songs reused from the old games. In short, every place there should be new music, like the new levels, there is. Also, every place it’s be cool to have old music it’s there, like on the stage select screen. Add that that onto all the classic Mega Man sounds that we knew would be back and this game looks and sounds perfect for it’s time.

Conclusion

Mega Man 9 is an 8-bit masterpiece. Everything about it is done right, everything that should be there is there, and it’s nails everything it was trying to do. The music is as catchy as the old ones and sounds like it came right from the 80s, the visual style is flawless for what it’s trying to recreate, and the gameplay is just as tight as it was back in the day. There’s even challenges similar to modern day achievements thrown in there so it still fulfills the needs (wants) of the modern gamer. This is an incredible achievement both as entertainment and a snapshot of days gone by. It’s actually incredible that Capcom was able to recreate what Mega Man was like so long ago so accurately. Download this game today!